How Not To Bake A Cake
by The Fallen Dark Angel
Summary: I know, suckish title. its basically what happen when Neku and Joshua try to help Mr H by baking a cake for a client. T, just to be safe. the characters are probably all a little over the top and almost certainly OOC because i can never get these characters right.


I wrote this for my friend's birthday a little while ago, but ive been busy so I haven't been able to put it on here. I've been writing my next story which is almost done but I haven't got a title for yet lol. Anyway here it is!

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Two boys were huddled in the back of the kitchen in the Wildkat café. They had already been there twenty minutes wasting the time screaming at each other trying to get their ideas for the cake they were making heard. Out front, Sanae Hanekoma cleaned mugs hoping for someone to enter the shop. _Anyone_. He hummed aimlessly trying to distract himself from what the two in the back were doing. He heard a crash and winced but refused to look back in fear of what was there.

He had asked Neku to bake a cake for a client who had a birthday this week and as soon as Joshua heard Neku was coming over he jumped at the chance to see his favourite proxy. Although Mr H knew this was probably a bad idea, he let the two into the kitchen in order to cook the order. From where he stood he tried to ignore the fighting he could hear between the two.

"Neku, obviously we need to gather the ingredients first," Joshua whined as the other boy started to pour flour into a bowl which was rested on top of a pair of scales.

"Shut it Josh, I used to make cakes with my mom all the time," Neku growled back he was huffing from the strain of lifting the flour. He was having trouble lifting the bag because the café only had bulk bags of things and he didn't think to use a cup instead of pouring the flour out of the bag.

Joshua giggled as he imagined Neku making cakes with his mom. In his head, he could see a small Neku with cake mix all over him, wearing a small child's apron with gingerbread on the front as he had attempted to 'help' make a cake. He turned away from Neku as the ginger haired boy stuck out his tongue at Joshua and pulled a face. To Joshua, it almost seemed like Neku could read his mind. Joshua looked over to the paper on the counter next to the microwave. He picked it up and skimmed through it for a second before a wide Cheshire cat grin made its way across his face.

"Hey Neku, the flour doesn't go in until after the butter and sugar," he said as he pointed to the recipe. "The eggs also have to go in before the flour." Joshua giggled as he flipped some of his hair out of his face. Neku huffed and but his hands on his hips as he waited for Joshua to say something else. "I don't know why you didn't listen to me in the first place," Joshua added with a smirk and a shrug. His hands made their way up and open next to his shoulders in his signature shrugging pose. The smirk was still on his face. Neku scowled at the composer as he slammed the bowl of flour down onto the counter ready to say something sassy and witty in return to show Joshua his tongue was just as sharp as the silver haired boy's one was.

Unfortunately, the flour in front of Neku didn't want to stay in the bowl, and flew up from the force of the bowl hitting the counter and straight into Neku's face and over the apron he was wearing. He let out a small cough and flour fell off him like snow.

Joshua's giggles filled the room completely. He was thinking of holding his stomach he was laughing so hard at the sight of Neku covered in flour and white as a ghost. Neku realises quickly that Joshua was too weak to fight back and took the remains of the bowl of flour and dumped it on the other boy's hair.

Joshua stopped giggling and stood up straight to face Neku. Both were scowling at each other before Joshua reached up to touch what was in his hair. When his hand came back white, he looked mortified that the ingredient had ended up in his hair and not in a cake. He let out a little squeal of annoyance looking furious. To the younger of the two, the look Joshua wore made being covered in flour less annoying. Neku burst out laughing but tried to hide it behind his hand.

This time, Joshua remained calm even though he felt embarrassed and angry at Neku. He would make sure the other boy didn't leave without a hint of embarrassment… so he smiled and giggled a little to himself which was enough to get the other so stop his laughter immediately.

"Shall we get on with the cake, dear?" Joshua asked as Neku calmed down. The orange haired boy was a little wary but at the same time he nodded. He didn't react to being called 'dear' figuring that if he did then Joshua would get the reaction he wanted. Joshua giggled for a second before beckoning for Neku to come over to help him with measuring out ingredients.

Everything went fine for a little while, Joshua had been eating the butter and sugar mix while still seeming to have extreme dandruff from the flour that fell between the silvery strands of his hair and onto his shoulders. While Neku had the full bowl of cake mix, he looked over to the other boy and realised with a smirk that Neku had his guard down. Stealthily, Joshua put a hand on his head, pretending he had an itch so he could get some flour off of his hair and onto his hand. He checked his hand to see a thick dusting of flower then looked back up at his unsuspecting victim. Neku was humming to himself as he whisked the cake up creating a light, fluffy mixture just like his mother had taught him. Joshua smirked to himself as he came to stand behind Neku. He reframed from putting his arms around the other's waist and instead rested his head almost on top of the other boy's shoulder.

"Do you think that it looks done?" he asked quietly over Neku's shoulder. He knew from Neku's reaction that his hair tickled the ginger's shoulder and his breath could be felt against the sensitive skin of his ear. The ginger haired one was a little startled but didn't move to look back at Joshua. Joshua moved his hand to brush against Neku to leave a small print where it was intended. The taller of the two didn't notice anything as Joshua started to pull away.

"Yeah, probably. I'm just gonna get a little more air in it," Neku answered. Joshua nodded as he inwardly smirked. He had already gotten his revenge now, he just had to wait for someone to notice when Neku left the café. He smiled as he made his way around to the oven to open it for Neku to put the cake in.

"We need to mix up the icing now, right?" Joshua asked innocently. Neku raised an eyebrow at Joshua before nodding.

"The cake's gotta cook and cool first," Neku told the other with a roll of his eyes.

"Hm…" Joshua acknowledged. He swayed on the spot for a second, before turning on heel to go up the stairs towards the bathroom.

"I'm going to wash my hair, stay there and watch the cake!" Joshua shouted back down the stairs. Neku didn't know what to do with his time, so he leant against the counter and pulled out his phone. He sent a text to Shiki telling her that he would meet her after the cake was finished. He ended up adding that they would have to go to his home so he could get a new shirt.

After sending the text, Neku pulled off the blue apron that had been dusted white with powder. He noticed that the flour had ended up inside the collar of his shirt and down his front as well as on his face and hair. He pulled off his shirt to wipe his face because the apron he had been wearing was covered in egg and butter. He wiped his face, seeing large white smears appear on the cloth. Neku ruffled his hair to dislodge any flour there next, he looked down at his black jeans to see if there was any flour on them but was glad to see nothing at all but the black denim and his beaten up blue converse.

When Joshua came down the stairs, Neku was still trying to beat some of the flour off his shirt onto the gathering pile on the cold tiled floor. He had attempted brushing it off but it wasn't working. Joshua admired Neku from behind while running a brush through his hair. He placed the brush down on the far counter before he spoke up.

"You shouldn't take your clothes off in the kitchen," he announced monotonously as he walked closer to Neku's back and placed his hands on the slim naked waist belonging to the orange haired boy. Neku reacted like he had been shocked. He drew back quickly and covered his chest with his shirt. Joshua giggled at the sight but didn't move any closer to the other boy.

"You look very much like a girl doing that dear," he said causing Neku to scowl and drop the shirt from his chest.

"Whatever, do you have a washing machine or something?" he asked in annoyance as he failed to meet Joshua's eyes. He didn't know why he was avoiding the gaze, but he just didn't want to look at Joshua. Joshua giggled and pointed to the machine he knew would get the flour out of Neku's shirt.

"Over there, I hope you understand how to use it because I don't," Joshua said as he bent down to look at the cake in the oven. The cake looked brown around the edges and had risen completely. A look of accomplishment flashed across the composer's face as he opened the oven to pull out the baked goods. He sniffed, pulling here smell of the warm cake into his nostrils as it flooded out of the oven.

"Make sure you use ovenmits!" Neku shouted over as he heard the oven open. Joshua rolled his eyes at the motherly tone but soon realised he_ had_ forgotten to cover his hands and could've gotten a few burns if Neku hadn't reminded him. He pulled on the gloves with a scowl but rolled his eyes again and pulled the cake out of the oven as if he hadn't forgotten the safety gear and put it on a cooling tray Mr H had left out after making some pastries.

Neku, who had deposited his shirt in the washer, walked back into the kitchen still shirtless causing Joshua to giggle and look him up and down.

"Very sexy Neku," Joshua teased.

"Shut it," Neku growled back. He walked past Joshua to get to the counter and poke the cake with a knife. They silver haired male's eyes followed Neku across the room and he giggled again when he saw the flour mark he had left.

Neku turned back to him and Joshua's purple eyes shot up to look at Neku's blue ones.

"What are you staring at?" Neku asked with narrow eyes causing Joshua to giggle and shake his head.

"Nothing you need to worry your pretty little spikey head over," he said as a smirk made its way onto his face. Neku growled but turned back to the cake to see if it was cool enough to ice.

"Ok, get the stuff for the icing then it's ready," Neku said without turning round. He had found a knife nearby and was slicing the cake across the middle to put a filling inside it. Next to him, he had already placed a jar of jam and a carton of cream ready to whip. Joshua paid no attention to the other boy's motions as he reached up to open the cupboard he knew was the one where Sanae kept his ingredients.

Joshua realised quickly that the icing sugar was on the top shelf and frowned to himself. The composer thought for a second, one hand on his hip while he tapped his chin with the forefinger of the other hand. He soon realised this event was a challenge and seeing as his teenage height was too short it was one that he hoped would impress Neku, even if it was just a little. Joshua smirked as he accepted the 'challenge of the cupboard' in his head. He didn't waste a minute before pushing up on the counter and swivelling to sit on it. Joshua tried again to reach the box, but he was still about an inch too short so turned again and stood up on his knees to reach higher. Finally, he managed to grab the box down and with a triumphant giggle, he hopped down off the counter sticking his arms out to the side as if he was a gymnast.

Joshua looked over to notice Neku still intently preparing the cake. He made a noise of annoyance under his breath which finally caught Neku's attention. The boy didn't turn around as he sighed and spoke.

"Stop playing around Josh," Neku said monotonously like a mother watching her children. He was whisking the cream in a bowl to make it fluffy for the cake. A thin layer of jam had already spread over the bottom half of the cake while the top half sat next to it turned upside down. Joshua huffed in annoyance because of the lack of attention Neku was giving him.

"I'm not playing around," the boy protested as he walked closer to Neku with the icing sugar. He was right behind Neku as he slipped the box onto the counter and as soon as he let go of the box his brain formulated a plan and his hands quickly made their way to Neku's shoulders. "Hm, Neku, your shoulders are so _tense_" Joshua smirked as he placed his hands on Neku's shoulders and gave them a squeeze. Neku jumped, letting out a yelp of surprise. He turned to scowl at the composer as he shook the hands off his shoulders.

"What exactly made you think that was a good idea?" the orange haired boy asked angrily.

"I was showing you way playing around would be," Joshua said with a giggle. "I mean, I know you told me to stop playing around, but I felt I needed to play just a little before I stopped," Joshua giggled again as he swiped some now whipped cream out of Neku's mixing bowl on his one finger. Neku was looking at him again with a scowl which caused Joshua to smirk and tap the finger coated in cream against his friend's nose.

"Joshua..." Neku warned. He was getting really tired of Joshua and they still had to ice the cake.

"Ok I'm done playing," Joshua giggled. To show himself as sincere, he pulled a bowl out of a not-as-high cupboard (he only had to jump for this one) and poured half the box of icing sugar into it. He knew from making cakes with Sanae that he didn't need to put a lot of water in, so only put a tiny amount to start before adding more and more until it was ready. When he looked over to Neku, he had already put the cream on the cake and pushed the two halves together to sandwich the jam and cream between the soft layers of cake.

"So the icing just goes... _all over _the cake?" Joshua asked as he pulled the bowl off the counter to move it next to the cake. Neku looked at him and then his icing before moving over to the cupboard again.

"We need some colour to it," Neku decided as he pulled out blue, pink and purple colouring for the icing. Neku added the pink to the icing Joshua had already whipped up and instructed him to stir it.

"I'm going to put my shirt in the dryer. You ice the cake," Neku instructed. He earned a nod and a cheeky two finger salute in return with a mock answer of 'yessir' added in for the amusement of the smirking silver haired boy.

While Neku was gone, Joshua did a genuinely good job on icing the cake. He evenly smoothed the icing down with a knife until not even a point could be seen where the knife had left the cake. He smirked at his handiwork hoping Neku would approve.

When the other boy came back -shirt still off-, Joshua was whipping up another batch of icing. He was singing quietly to himself as he continued to make the icing. Neku realised that he was soundlessly singing the songs belonging to his city's heart, the ones that has pulsed though Neku's Headphones once or twice during the game. It was Neku's turn to smirk however an affectionate look could be seen in his eyes.

"Planning on putting some around the bottom?" Joshua wasn't startled by the appearance of Neku. He didn't turn as he replied to the other boy.

"I'm going to pipe around the bottom and maybe the top, before I write 'happy birthday' in the middle. Being dead I kind of guessed I'd be the one with the steadier hand," Joshua answered, half serious and half in a giggle. Neku let out a noise of amusement and walked to stand right next to Joshua so their arms brushed. Neku prepared another batch of icing for the middle while Josh scooped his icing into a piping bag.

"Hey Josh," Neku asked as he started a conversation. The boy next to him hummed to show he has heard but didn't move his head or stop what he was doing.

"I was wondering if the person who we were making the cake for was important to you seeing as you're helping me make the cake for them," Neku looked down to the bowl of icing which he had just drizzled with the purple food colouring while Joshua had the blue. Neku started mixing in the colour into the icing as he avoided the curious gaze of the composer beside him.

"Heehee silly Neku, she isn't the one I'm trying to impress with cake if that's what you mean," Joshua answered. The silver haired boy giggled at Neku's screwed up face as the other boy thought.

"What you and Mr H got a thing going or something?" Neku asked humour was evident in his voice as his tone made it sound like he wanted to chuckle.

"Yes Neku, I am obviously having sex with Sanae. We're like rabbits really, always doing it," the way Joshua said it, it was hard to tell if he was being sarcastic or not at first. Neku roll his eyes and bumped his shoulder into Joshua with a sigh of false exasperation. Really, he was laughing at the image of Joshua with the older, bean loving man.

Joshua always did like it when Neku's eyes light up when he was being cheeky. It made him realise how much he had changed this boy with his game and how there was still hope for his noise-ridden town even when it seems hopeless.

"Hey Josh, you gonna ice this?" Neku asked. He had taken over Joshua's job and globes of small pointy round-ish shapes had been piped with blue icing all around both the bottom and the top of the cake. All the cake needed was to fill the blank space in the middle of the cake.

"Yes" Joshua drew out the word so it was elongated. He walked over with an icing bag filled with pink icing. "You obviously need my help. No masterpiece could be created without me~ heehee..."

Neku had to admit, after an hour or so, Joshua's laugh really got on your nerves.

"Yes. All hail the composer," Neku answered sarcastically causing Joshua to send a wink in his direction. "I'm going to fetch my shirt," Neku mumbled before turning on heel and walking over to where the dryer was and pulled out his balled up shirt. It was still slightly wet so he walked back over to where Joshua was with the finished cake on the counter and the icing bag leaking onto the same work surface. Joshua had somehow managed to get icing in his hair and on his forehead.

Also, a puddle of icing lay at their feet undetected by the two. Joshua turned as he was chopping some strawberries for the cake and gave Neku a wicked smile.

"Would you mind placing these strawberries on the cake dear?' Joshua asked as he piled them up next to the cake. Neku nodded and did as he was asked. While working together they finished the cake within ten minutes. When they were done, Neku slipped his shirt back on. He was happy to see that there were no creases. Out the window, a bird danced past capturing Neku's attention and taking it off a scheming composer.

Joshua, who now wanted to make Neku jump with another bout of flirtatious teasing, crept up to Neku, trying to be quiet so the other didn't hear him. He put one of his hands up under Neku's shirt, against his lower back. Neku, who didn't realise fully what had happened, swirled around fast enough to knock the unprepared silver haired boy into the puddle of watery icing sugar. Joshua reached out impulsively to grab onto anything that could hold him up. The only thing he managed to catch though was Neku's shirt causing the other boy to lose balance and topple down over the smaller of the two.

For a second, while they lay on the floor trying to compose themselves, they didn't realise they had fell so similarly that their lips had crashed together. The composer didn't seem too angered by the kiss, but Neku was quick to pull away. In a haste, Neku tried to moved away but just hit his head on a low handle for a set of draws sending him flying back down onto Joshua's chest as he recoiled.

At the sound of the crash, Mr H whipped his head around. He heard a pair of groans and wondered whether he wanted to walk into his kitchen or not. He knew that if they were hurt, he needed to help and if they were doing... Something... He needed to break it up.

Mr H took a peak around the door to see Neku lying on top of Joshua with them both groaning. Neku's shirt had ridden halfway up his back while Joshua's hand was still locked in a vice grip around the front of Neku's shirt. The composer was rubbing his head where he had banged it on the floor while Neku did the same from another head injury. The last thing the coffee loving male noticed was a white powdered handprint on Neku's jeans, which he couldn't help but snicker at.

"Guys, get up," he said at first with a small chuckle evident in his voice. "Then, you might want to check your back pockets Phones and J, you might want to hide right now," the male said as he held his stubbly chin and stroked it with his forefinger. He still wore a smirk and the composer returned the smirk with a giggle.

"You always ruin my fun, he wasn't meant to find out until he was in public," Joshua said. For a second, Neku thought he was going to pull a false pout but finally the conversation sunk in and he realised Joshua had drew on his... Back pockets... with flour. Neku stood and swivelled his body so he was able to see the mark of a white handprint on his black jeans.

"Josh..." Neku growled as he slowly turned to face the other.

"Annnddd there is my cue. Your welcome for the help Sanae, I'm sure this Ellie or Ella will love the cake," the composer said quickly without looking to Neku. He faded on the spot most likely into the UG leaving Sanae Hanekoma to deal with an angry Neku who wanted to attack the composer because of what he had done. In the UG, Joshua watched Neku with a smile. Even if they fought, it was nice to have the orange haired boy as a friend. As Joshua left, touched his lips with a smile. Even if that didn't class as a kiss his lips tingled. The composer giggled again as he sat on his throne and started to think to himself. Maybe he could make Neku feel the same way some day!

Unbeknownst to Joshua, still in the RG after walking home with Shiki, Neku was thinking the exact same thing...


End file.
